2007 Q1 Contest

Getting Ready

Judges Comments

Hands down winner for me, no pun intended. The hands make it, photographer took a different and interesting high angle and waited for the composition to come together. Others tried it, but only this photographer pulled it off. Nice color palette.

Judges Comments

Sums up the last minute nature of "Getting Ready". Chaos can be fun. Good interaction, expression and timing tell the story and propel this entry to the top. Besides being a funny moment, this picture also offers some other nice elements. One of those being the composition. The black-and-white image really allows the patterns in the room to be emphasized. You've got diagonals, verticals and horizontals throughout the image, but it still looks clean for some reason. Ironing board legs cross as do the arms of the two women on the left. Lastly, I like how they've turned a potentially dangerous situation into a humorous one.

Judges Comments

The juxtaposition between the classical portrait of Samuel Miller and the carefree bride is great. The clock is ticking off the minutes before she ties the knot and she's obviously in a jovial mood. The two paired together make me imagine they're both being told a joke which he finds mildly humorous and she finds hilarious. A multi-generation gap? The clean placement of the subjects in the frame is great composition. Even the slight tilt adds to the humor. This is a picture where the color enhances the image by adding warmth.

Judges Comments

I like the way the bride is framed in the photo so your eye is drawn right to her. Her expression, her friends, her clothes, and the way her hand is touching her hair all work to capture the process of getting ready in a very natural way.

Judges Comments

I think this photo is a lot of fun and the expressions on the women's faces capture their excitement and anticipation of events to come. I like the way they're peering below the blinds as they finish getting ready.

Judges Comments

Lovely intimate image of the groom (or groomsman?) dressing â€“ refreshing high key image with pleasing color palette. A surprise and a splendid demonstration of Henri Cartier-Bresson's maxim that â€œYou have to put your camera between the skin of a person and his shirt.â€ This was in reference to making portraits, but because this tattoo is probably as unique as the man's face it fits equally well here. Well seen, good use of narrow depth of field and a hint of blur motion in the movement of the shirt to give the fleeting, transitory, ephemeral feel of a precious moment captured.

Judges Comments

Judges Comments

Teamwork is what this picture screams. The show must go on and a little slushy snow isn't going to deter this wedding party. All of the women are in mid-step (except for the little one who is being carried). It also looks like one of the girls in the garland headdresses is running blind since her wreath is dropping over her eyes. The matriarch of the family, last in line, is taking one for the team without anyone else there to save her skirt. There's a lot of energy in this picture.

Judges Comments

The best images are often about what it feels like rather that what it looks like and this picture uses body language, interplay of light and shadow and the metaphor of the window to create a mood that captures the anticipation of crossing the threshold into marriage. It would be even stronger if the light wall on the side of the frame were cropped out.

Judges Comments

Judges Comments

This image brings to mind something else Bresson once said about waiting for the moment when the person is in themselves, alone with their thoughts. It's slight twinge of melancholy or seriousness was refreshing in a category with a bit too much clothes tugging and bathroom humor. Marriage is rather serious business after all. Nice use of light and the tilt works.

Judges Comments

This is a lovely photograph; nicely composed with pretty, soft light. To me it captures a charming moment between a person and her pet. Pets seem to have an uncanny ability to sense when something different or special is going on and this dog is aware that something about her and this day is far from the ordinary.

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